Biography

Ken Marple, a Cape Breton, Nova Scotia native, received a Bachelor of Music degree in piano from Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick in 1981. As well as being a member of the University Settlement Music and Arts School Faculty, he maintains a busy private piano studio in Toronto. He has been teaching in the Toronto area for over 40 years.

For many years, Ken’s students have achieved high marks in Royal Conservatory examinations, numerous top placements and best-of-class awards in the Kiwanis Music Festival of Greater Toronto, the Canadian Music Competition (CMC), the Chinese Cultural Competition, the Davenport Music Festival, the Neapolitan Festival, the Pickering/Oshawa Music Festival, and the North York Music Festival. They have also won high praise in the non-competitive music festival, Contemporary Showcase (Alliance for Canadian New Music Projects). As well, they have won various awards and scholarships through the Royal Conservatory, the Kiwanis Festival, the Don Banks Music Awards, the Neapolitan Music Festival, the North York Music Festival and the University Settlement Music & Arts School. Many of Ken’s students have been invited to participate in the Ontario Music Festival provincial final competition where they have won awards in both solo piano and piano concerto classes. As well, Ken’s students have been promoted to and have competed at the Canadian National Finals of the Federation of Canadian Music Festivals (FCMF) and have achieved excellent placements including 1st Place in a chamber music class. In piano concerti classes, Ken’s students have also achieved excellent results including 1st and 2nd at the national finals of the CMC. A sampling of the piano concerti which Ken’s students have performed includes: the Schumann Piano Concerto in a minor, Op. 54 with the North York Concert Orchestra in 2017 and at the CMC Finals; the Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3 in c minor, Op. 37, with the Todi International Music Masters Festival Orchestra in Italy in 2018 and at the CMC Finals; the Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Op. 58 at the North York Music Festival and later at the Provincial finals in 2019; a piano solo/orchestral combination of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition with the North Toronto Collegiate Institute Orchestra in 2022; the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 20 in d minor, K. 466 at the Toronto Kiwanis Music Festival and at the Provincial finals; and the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 17 in G Major, K. 453 at St. George the Martyr Anglican Church. One of Ken’s students placed 2nd in the Ontario Division of the prestigious Steinway Competition and performed in a recital at Steinway Hall, New York City in 2018. Several of Ken’s senior students have been accepted into intensive summer piano performance institutes in both Canada and Europe. In addition, several of Ken’s students have pursued the study of piano performance and/or piano pedagogy at the University level up to and including the master’s and doctoral levels at Canadian and American universities. Ken has given piano Master Classes at the Unionville School of the Arts and for various piano teachers and associations in and about the Toronto area. Many of his senior students have achieved the Gold Medal from the Royal Conservatory of Music for the highest marks in Ontario/Canada on their RCM piano and theory exams. Ken has accompanied various choirs and, in the 1990s, he performed with Toronto District School Board school choirs at Roy Thomson Hall.

In addition to being a pianist and piano teacher, Ken has also enjoyed success as a singer. Initially a tenor, he studied singing with Dr. George Evelyn during the entirety of his undergraduate degree in piano. In Ontario, Ken sang professionally with such choirs as Orpheus Choir, the Bach-Elgar Choir of Hamilton and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir (TMC). Ken performed with the TMC men’s section and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in their performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 at Carnegie Hall in New York City. He studied singing in Toronto with Mel Braun. Ken began singing in the countertenor voice in the mid-1980s and, as such, enjoyed several engagements in Toronto including: various performances of Benjamin Britten’s Canticle II: Abraham and Isaac and Canticle IV: Journey of the Magi, and the alto soloist role in Handel’s Messiah with the Etobicoke Symphony. For many years, he sang professionally, again, as countertenor with the Tafelmusik Chamber Choir, the Aradia Baroque Ensemble and St. James Cathedral Choir and was also involved in numerous recording projects with all of these organizations. During his time performing as a countertenor, Ken studied singing with Anna Tamm-Relyea in Toronto and occasionally coached with Marcy Lindheimer (Feldenkrais specialist) and Jeffrey Dooley (countertenor) in New York City and Don Tarnawski in Toronto. Ken, more recently, returned to the tenor range of his voice and, in the early 2000s, pursued vocal studies with Marjorie Sparks in Toronto. In the summer of 2007, he toured England with St. George’s Anglican Church Choir (of Oshawa), performing in various Cathedrals including Wells Cathedral, Salisbury Cathedral, as well as in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.

Ken studied piano with Brydon MacDonald (in Nova Scotia), Dr. Janet Hammock (at Mount Allison University), Dr. John Hess (at Courtenay Youth Music Centre), and, in Toronto, with Dianne Werner (at the Royal Conservatory of Music), and David Smith. Also at the Royal Conservatory of Music, he has studied musicianship pedagogy and solfege with Adelina Burashko and intensive piano pedagogy for 3 years with Marina Geringas, who became a mentor and major influence in rounding out his unique approach to teaching piano. Ken is a passionate piano pedagogue. His approach to teaching piano is holistic with an emphasis on the early development of fundamental musicianship, musical literacy and sound technique. In his unique, animated approach, which is often enhanced by his singing, he guides his students through their individual exploration of the piano and helps them to define their own sound world. Piano lessons take on an exciting collaborative process as details of pacing, tone, balance and nuance are experimented with and interpretive points are carefully considered and discussed. Ken instills in his students a deep commitment to and a respect of the piano repertoire. He inspires his students to approach the piano and the piano repertoire with the highest integrity.